Breaking News: Rangers' Gaborik to Have Surgery on Shoulder

In a team news release on Friday, the New York Rangers announced that their star forward, Marian Gaborik, is going to undergo surgery on Wednesday to fix a torn labrum in his shoulder. Supposedly, this injury occurred very early in the postseason.

Since the Ottowa series, Gaborik has been ripped apart by fans and the media for his lack of scoring. With this news, it appears that Gaborik had been playing most of the playoffs with this injury.

Gaborik re-aggravated his shoulder problem in Game 2 of the first series of the playoffs versus the Ottowa Senators, and has been playing with the problem ever since. He did not miss a game.

This injury certainly explains why Gaborik did not play as well as many expected him too. Dealing with a torn labrum is no joke, and Gaborik played 18 more games with the injury after hurting it again.

This injury does more than show Gaborik's toughness, however, it further shows the Rangers' will to win.

The New York Rangers were anything but healthy heading into Game 6 against the New Jersey Devils. Brandon Dubinksy returned to the Ranger lineup in Game 5, and it was later discovered after the series he was playing with a high ankle sprain—something that could sideline a player for weeks.

It was also discovered that Brandon Prust has needed surgery since January 12th to repair his finger, yet he didn't miss a game. Also, Brian Boyle continued playing despite sustaining a concussion. The news of Gaborik's injury just adds another injury to the Rangers' pile.

Most of these injuries would put normal players out of commission as soon as they received them. However, this Rangers' team is far from normal.

I'd rather not get into the commercialism here, but the Rangers played through all of these injuries because of the Cup. The Rangers wanted to win the Stanley Cup, and they did not want to sit back and watch their teammates play in the playoffs while they sat on the bench. Rather, they wanted to be a part of the run to the Cup.

This shows the grit and the toughness of this Ranger team, as well as their will to win. From a scorer like Gaborik to a grinder like Prust, this team does not know the meaning of the word quit.

With all of these injuries, it makes more sense why the Rangers looked as if they were playing different than they did all season long. Next year, if everyone is healthy, the Rangers will have another chance at a Cup run, and possibly do even better than they did this year.

Unfortunately, though, reports say the surgery could sideline Gaborik for six months, which would mean he would miss almost a whole month of next season.